How To Label Your iLok And Have Fun Too

Did you know you could label your iLok? Take a look at the photo above. On the underside of an iLok is a little button, if you push that in and then pull the translucent collar, the collar will come off to reveal a grey plastic area which you can write on.

As you can see I have simply written on mine with a marker pen to identify which is which of my two iLoks. But you could be much more adventurous than me, you could create a template and then create more professional looking labels using a desktop publishing application, or you could draw on them like a recent stormtrooper iLok winner Felix T did

Or you could go one further and create the Darth Fader and Stormtrooper iLoks like these

We have been getting reports from several sources that all their iLok protected software has stopped working. The current issue is getting an Authorization Exception message. The simple fix is to make sure you are on the latest version of the iLok License Manager.

Your iLok can be worth more than it's weight in gold if you have a lot of software licenses on it. Looking after it and protecting it should be a high priority but we so often don't give it a second glance. In this article, we are going to look at a number of options to consider.

In this article, we are going to take a look at what you should do if an iLok is broken, lost or stolen. iLoks are incredibly valuable especially when you have a lot of software and plug-in licenses on them and so it is best to look after them carefully but when the unthinkable happens then this is what you should do....

Since 2013, the iLok License Manager software has been at the core of how we manage the iLok licenses, that protect a lot of the software we buy. This article and the video from Avid cover how to use the iLok License Manager software to manage for iLok licenses.

If you have never used an iLok before you will need to buy an iLok, create a free iLok account and transfer the iLok license onto your iLok or computer. Existing Pro Tools owners with Pro Tools 9 and above will have had to set up an iLok account and own an iLok as the Pro Tools Software is protected by an iLok license that is required to be on an iLok license.

New Pro Tools owners and anyone that hasn't got an iLok are advised to follow the instructions in this guide. This guide will also help if you have received an activation code from a software publisher.

Got Pro Tools installed on more than one computer? Find yourself swapping iLok and Waves USB hubs between your systems? Got an Arm / Linux based NAS server? Want to be able to use your Pro Tools anywhere in the world, even if you've left you iLok behind? Alan Sallabank takes a look at the VirtualHere Server.

As you can imagine life at Pro Tools Expert can get complicated when running a Pro Tools computer. We test a lot of gear, that includes hardware and it also includes more than one Mac. Right now I have a Mac Pro running El Capitan and a Mac Mini running Pro Tools on Yosemite for testing which I have to jump between, so I wanted to find a solution that gave me the greatest flexibility with the minimum of pain. A few things needed addressing, screen, keyboard and mouse sharing, audio and MIDI input and also plug-in licences, this is the solution I came up with.

iLok have updated their website to respond to user concerns about getting information. It includes; A cleaner UI and routes to info, Easier to use supports tools, Better store experience and New how-to videos - what is ZDT and TLC

Community member Nathan Ruyle has reached out to us asking if we would share his experiences after buying an iLok protected plug-in on line.. I just had a recent experience with an iLok software license that I thought I would share with you as a cautionary tale about purchasing software from individuals rather than a vendor.

An issue that has not well publicised is that 2nd generation iLoks (iLok2) can have issues with USB3 ports on newer Macs. The fault can sometimes be replicated by unplugging the iLok after successfully using it, then plugging it back in again, after that, the iLok will light up but may not be detected by any application that needs to access it (this is obviously more of a problem for laptop users). The workaround is to plug it in via a certified USB2 hub (even one of the ports on an Apple keyboard will do).

Following a question in Podcast 81 from Michael Lux asking now to get a copy of Pro Tools 11HD software, because he wanted the surround features that are now only available in Pro Tools HD. We talked about how it was possible to buy it secondhand but that the seller would need to put it on an iLok and send the buyer the iLok as Avid have now blocked transferring Pro Tools HD licenses from one iLok account to another. In the podcast we also discussed how the iLok would show up on the buyer’s iLok License Manager.

Did you know you could label your iLok? Take a look at the photo above. On the underside of an iLok is a little button, if you push that in and then pull the translucent collar, the collar will come off to reveal a grey plastic area which you can write on.

To access and manage our iLok licenses users for many years now have used a web browser and a special extension, which worked well, but has been plagued with browser compatibility issues, especially with Firefox which hasn’t been supported for quite a while now, and there have been a number of things we couldn’t do like delete expired demo licenses.

Software protection gets a bad rap on the whole, not just from those trying to find ways to get software by not paying for it, but also from those who have paid for the software but sometimes find themselves locked out of our own software because the protection isn’t working as it should.

In this week’s podcast we had a question from Craig Shimmon about recommendations for how to make iLoks secure in a computer lab environment. I had two suggestions, a diecast box which Neil Hester suggested trashing the lid screws once fitted and screwed to the desk, or a product called a Roklocker. We have had an excellent solution which takes my diecast box idea and moves it on many stages to an excellent solution and so with Neil and Fred’s permission we bring you the Fredbox Mk 2. They also offer an improvement to my our ideas for a Mac Pro.